AUTHORITIES have seized more than P5.2 million worth of contrabands in an anti-smuggling operation in Zamboanga City, a top police official said Monday, October 24, 2022.
Police Colonel Alexander Lorenzo, Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO) director, said the smuggled cigarettes were seized around 4 a.m. Sunday at Purok 8 in Sinunuc village.
Lorenzo said the joint personnel of the Regional Special Operations Group, ZCPO intelligence, and ZCPO’s Station 8 personnel launched the anti-smuggling operation after they received report about the presence of smuggled cigarettes at Purok 8 in Sinunuc village.
Lorenzo said no one was arrested as the supposed owner of the smuggled cigarettes, Muhammad Esmali Laudin, was not around when the policemen arrived in his place.
He said seized were a total of 150 master cases of assorted smuggled cigarettes with P5,250,000.
He said the smuggled cigarettes were taken to the ZCPO’s Station 8 for documentation and will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for proper disposition. (SunStar Zamboanga)